Photo: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, photographer not specified or unknown · Public domainAt 2.3%, unemployment in Seward is lower than in 80% of U.S. towns
Working residents average 12 minutes each way, next to 19 for Alaska and 26 for the U.S. Household incomes here are higher than in 63% of U.S. towns. The two grades for Seward are B− for jobs and income and A for walkability. 8% of workers work from home (Alaska 10%).
Census ACS 2020–24, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Seward’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Seward is better than 50% of U.S. towns, #13 of 41 in Alaska. Unemployment holds Seward’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 3% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Seward could be anywhere from D to A−.
Time on the road from Seward: about 12 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 3.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Seward workers work from home, vs 10% across Alaska. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 980 commuters (the 8% who work from home are left out). Across Alaska: 72% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
In Seward, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Seward is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns, #5 of 41 in Alaska. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 23.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 9.9% across Alaska, on an EPA index of 8.7.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,061 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 7.6% of Seward households have no vehicle (Alaska 9.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Seward’s commuters take a bus or train.
Seward next to U.S. towns of 2,000 to 3,900: 2,314th of 4,882 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,673 | Goldstream AK | 3,294 | $104K | 4.7% | 3.7% | — | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,683 | Mill Bay AK | 3,654 | $89K | 9.0% | 0.0% | — | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,750 | North Pole AK | 2,477 | $92K | 4.9% | 4.6% | — | B |
| … | |||||||
| 2,312 | Watson Township IL | 3,176 | $77K | 6.8% | 4.0% | 7% | B− |
| 2,313 | Wildwood Lake TN | 3,495 | $63K | 15.0% | 2.3% | 1% | B− |
| 2,314 | Seward AK | 2,892 | $85K | 9.3% | 2.3% | — | B− |
| 2,315 | Milton DE | 3,860 | $81K | 5.5% | 6.2% | 7% | B− |
| 2,316 | Tuckerton NJ | 3,734 | $89K | 6.7% | 7.4% | 5% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,882 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Seward, the top three, the last and three more from Alaska.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Seward: questions
What is the median household income in Seward?
$85,481 (±$29,246) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $92,788 across Alaska and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Seward?
9.3%, against 10.1% across Alaska and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Seward?
12 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Alaska and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Is Seward walkable?
Seward is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.7 out of 20, and 24% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Seward without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Seward, from the people who make the trip.
More of Seward
Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.